It’s time for Retro Wordle – play the world’s new favorite game on the C64

For the times you only have your Commodore 64 with you....er

Paul McNally

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Yeah so we grew up on Scrabble, but man, it just takes too long and there is always arguing over such and such word exists, then along came Wordle, and we watched as it insidiously inserted itself next to your Cornflakes as part of your morning routine. Then it was bought by the New York Times so we all hated it for selling out – at least until the following day’s breakfast, when, hey it’s still Wordle right?

Anyway, Danielle has been doing a sterling daily job giving you all your daily Wordle hints and tips along with providing the definitive list of Wordle alternatives should the NYT version really stick in your craw, but, shock horror, she seems to have totally ignored the fact that you can now play Wordle on hardware that is nearly 40 years old.

And not only that there are more versions of Wordle for retro computers than there are for modern computers. What are you going to do about that New York Times/

If this all seems like it needs Marty McFly to appear playing the game it does seem like a Flux Capacitor has been involved to some extent. Yes, you can now play Wordle on the Commodore 64, and indeed a whole host of other retro computers – and even hardware emulating retro computers such as the MiSTer FPGA – my retro gaming toy of choice these days.

YouTuber Not a Wizard has been busy developing his C64 Wordle for the past couple of months and you can see how he is getting on here in the video below:

But that is not all, because – and we can’t believe nobody has done it earlier we also have…

Turdle

Now this toilet-themed Wordle clone for the Commodore 64 was available on Itch.io for a while but the developer Roysterini has now removed it without giving a reason, but you might be able to guess who may have come knocking. It was also released as a PRG and D64 file, as well as a browser-based version so could be played on real vintage hardware or an emulated C64.

Another C64 version of Wordle?

Yes, please. This one is by Havoc and you can also check it out on YouTube below, and you even get to see some of the cool loading bars for proper retro gaming glory here:

Wordle on a C64 BBS?

If you know what a BBS is you are in safe hands here. The pre-cursor to the internet, Bulletin Board Systems were where all us cool kids hung out in the 80s. Some of us have refused to let it go and there are still BBSs you can “dial” into across the internet these days. This one happens to run a version of Wordle on a C64 Mini BBS, so if you want the experience, but don’t have the hardware, the video below will show you how it is done.

Retro revival

There is a huge retro gaming revival going on at the moment and it is a lot of fun to see how far people are pushing the boundaries of these old machines. Feel free to find me on Twitter (@IAmPaulMcNally) and let me know of any great retro projects you have come across